Dechlorinator Comparison

[pauldadams1984]

Morning all.

As with all prices in the UK right now, the dechlorinator I use has gone up. So I am looking at alternatives and thought I'd get opinions on them and what's value for money.

I normally buy a 1.9l bottle of API stress coat+.

I like it because of the amount you need (5ml for 40litres) and it lasts (although I often don't measure it and throw in at least double than is required before putting in the tank and then dose extra once the new water goes in). I could start measuring properly and save money but I figure it might help the fish having more anyway.

The one that sounds good but possibly just a pointless sales ploy is the interpet bioactive tap safe. States that it adds BB although it wouldn't be alive so how useful that is I don't know? It's pretty much the same strength but more expensive as you can't get it in large quantities.

Then you have tetra aquasafe - 5 litre bottle for under 25 quid. At first look seems good value for money. Although upon reading dosage instructions. Tells you to add the water into the tank and then dose 5ml for every 10 litres (that you added) which means it's 1/4th the strength of API.

I have also found aquadesign safe that does 1ml for 25L that looks fantastic value but doesn't seem to offer any extra protection to fish

Anyway, any opinion or input would be appreciated

 

[Aiken Drum]

Stresscoat plus is the most expensive dechlorinator per water change ive ever come across. Its the reason i stopped using it and started looking for alternatives. Also Stresscoat promotes slimecoat through an aloe vera additive. Aloe vera is a polymerised sugar and promotes slimecoat by irritating the fish to get a response from the immune system. It coats fishes gills and makes them less efficient. The aloe vera depolymerises in the water releasing sugar. None of this seems a good idea to me. Apart from it being in Stresscoat has anybody ever heard of adding aloe vera additives into aquariums?

You add water conditioners to remove chlorine/ chloramine and some heavy metals. Any other claims should be taken with a pinch of salt as to whether they are of any benefit or actually work as the manufacturer claims.

So I selected a water conditioner based purely on cost/ water change and the more concentrated ones work out the cheapest. The generally available ones are Seachem Prime, API Tap Water Conditioner or API Aqua Essential. Look at how much a bottle costs for what you can readily get hold of, look at the dosage for your tank size, calculate the cost per water change. I went for Prime as the cheapest and its also by far the most used water conditioner in the hobby.

 

[pauldadams1984]

That's very interesting about the gill efficiency. I take it by changing from that to prime wouldn't cause any adverse effects like gill inefficiency.

5ml treats 250 litres wow.

I think I discounted prime a few years ago due to the expense before looking at the concentration. Definitely worth it if it does everything it says on the tin.... Or bottle in this case!

Thank you

 

[Aiken Drum]

Stresscoat + has been blamed for many things, cloudy water, etc. Whether it is the cause or not is debatable, but whats not debatable is its extremely expensive. Im not saying that you shouldn't use stresscoat, im just saying dont use it purely because of some claim they print on the bottle to get you to buy it. As water conditioner to remove chlorine/ chloramine it works just fine, you know it works for this because if you forget to add any your fish die. To confirm im saying aloe vera reduces gill efficiency.

A litre bottle of prime costs about the same as a litre bottle of stresscoat, but treats 5x the amount of water. Prime makes all the same claims as stresscoat about slimecoat and the detoxifying on top of that. Again dont use it just because of all these claims, use it because its cost effective for what you actually need it to do.

API Tap Water Conditioner is their budget water conditioner, costs about the same as Prime. API Aqua Essential is their product to compete with the market dominant Prime, and again costs about the same. Personally cant see the point of their Tap Water Conditioner now Aqua Essential is on the market at a similar price.

I switched from Stesscoat + to Prime with no noticable difference. As said Prime is by far the most used water conditioner in the hobby.

 

[Colin_T]

Do you have chlorine or chloramine in your water supply?
If you only have chlorine, you can aerate buckets of water for a few days to remove the chlorine.

If you have chloramine you will need a dechlorinator.